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epistle
language
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| A LETTER TO PAMPANGA SCHOOL OFFICIALS |
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| Dear (school official), Recently, we, the undersigned, got involved in a movement called DILA, the acronym for Defenders of Indigenous Languages in the Archipelago. This world-wide organization helped awaken the love and pride we have for the "amanung siswan" and helped build in us a passion that transcends all the passions we've ever had. Through it, we have been able to realize that the poetry and fiction we write in Kapampangan, as well as the promotion being done for the language, would just amount to nothing in the long run if we just let the language perish from the earth at some future time. One of us left the public schools there 34 years ago when Kapampangan was in flower. Kapampangan was still then the language of instruction in first and second grades. He was taken aback when he found out years later as a "balik-bayan", that it was no longer the case. Tagalog had taken over as medium of instruction in all grades! Something like this hurts when we feel that slowly but surely, like what author Renato Tayag predicted, Kapampangan would eventually die. All for the sake of unity and nationalism, our indigenous language is being killed softly to accomodate what they think would redound to a harmonious and homogenous culture. Kapampangan, right in its own domain is being squashed and relegated to the backbround while a government-sponsored one is glorified in both the classroom and in public. What a pity to such a rich language and culture! Kapampangans who were praised and described by a Spanish king as the "Castilians of their own race" seem to have condescended into becoming, along with their counterparts in various parts of the Philippines, the "bootblack of their race", kowtowing to the dictates of language imperialism. Through this letter that DILA is sending to top school officials of our province, we want to disseminate information if only to awaken the love and pride of all Kapampangans to their native tongue. The youth of the land especially needs some kind of indoctrination to arouse the spirit that is in them as we call them to reassess their feeling of patriotism to this beautiful "nation" of ours. For the students in the classrooms now bypassing the language that they should be learning instead, are the hope of our motherland. Once they change completely, there's no turning back and their vernacular language would be lost forever. (Yes, like half of the 6,000 languages in the world predicted to disappear during this century on account on account of neglect. And the townsfolk whose hearts are passive and spiritless amidst this ongoing "ethnic weeding", or "language genocide" as some writers aptly call this imposed policy, should also take heed. They are being subjected to this arrangement, because they are either silent lambs or blind followers. No less than the author, Renato Tayag, noted that Kapampangan would eventually disappear along with its province, Pampanga, which could have become a nation or principality were it not for the unification of the archipelago under Spain. This, he says, at an even faster pace with the advancement of technology in communication. In his article "The Vanishing Pampango Nation", he said that the language will vanish judging upon his keen observation especially on members of the new generation - the students, that is. Why is this the trend? Why is the eventual disappearance of Kapampangan blowing in the wind? There are many factors involved, but society has the finger of accusation on that institution we call school . It is a well-known fact that schools are killing Kapampangan softly with the inculcation and emphasis on other languages right in their own domain. Before delving further into that, let us first study the child himself and a little lesson on child development. Yes, the child who is going to be the future of the country, the child who will grow up into a man and who, during his youth, studies in a child-centered institution of learning. While it may be that his first language is Kapampangan, especially if he is a "first born", it wouldn't be the same for his younger and upcoming siblings. Let me substantiate that by following his pathway in life: At six, the child starts in his formal schooling. At that tender age when he has not even attained a full vocabulary of his mother language, much less developed love and pride for it, Tagalog-learning is already imposed on him. Unlike during the fifties and sixties when the medium of instruction in the lower grades was Kapampangan, the medium they use now is Tagalog. Think of the adverse effect this will have on the yet flexible child! Think of how it would be for the child whenever he comes home from school. Besides the Tagalog he hears in school, he hears Tagalog too on the radio as well as on television and video. If the family subscribes to Tagalog magazines too like Liwayway, buys Tagalog komics and Tagalog records and takes the child to Tagalog movies, it won't be long before the child would conclude that keeping his language is not worth doing and would eventually get rid of it and just stick to Tagalog. Add to this the fact that some teachers even encourage them to speak and practice Tagalog at home and penalize those caught speaking Kapampangan. So at home when he speaks to his parents in Tagalog, very likely his parents who also know Tagalog would just answer him in that language. And then there is the maid too who usually could speak Tagalog only! He is so exposed to too much Tagalog right on his own turf that he starts to formulate the assumption that Kapampangan is not an important language after all! His younger siblings would experience the same thing, and seeing their oldest brother speaking Tagalog, they would just follow suit, leaving just the parents the only speakers of their own language in their home. Now would these children ever care to lose their native language? Of course, not! Why? At six or seven, love and pride of the native tongue has not yet taken roots. Love of native language develops very much later in life. Right in their own territory, they are made to feel that their language is inferior and that there is no future in it. Right on its own turf, Kapampangan is not only downplayed in importance but humiliated and treated like dirt before the eyes of its own speakers! In fact Kapampangan appears to be just like a second language to them especially when they see it being taught in local colleges as a 3-unit elective course! At that stage in life when they should be experts in their own language, they are just starting to study its grammar and all that! This remedial measure is helpful all right, but the position of our language in our culture is still pathetic! The underlying cause of Kapampangan decadence is not being nipped in the bud! It's outrageous! Don't they know that a person learns faster during the springtime of his life? Just read any book on Child Development . So, as we see, it is the innocent teacher in a school in Pampanga who unknowingly and inadvertently causes the disappearance of his own native tongue! Yes, along with the media, and along with the parents as well! Kapampangan children, it seems, are being fashioned to become Tagalog speakers. Still fluent in Kapampangan when they go to college in Manila, upon their return home four years later, they become ridiculously "balid" in their Amanung Siswan. They can't even make one complete Kapampangan sentence. Everytime they can't express some mere basic stuff in Kapampangan, they resort to Tagalog which has become easier for them - to the disgust and frustration of true-blue Kapampangans around. Kapampangans living abroad can speak the language with more fluency! Ain't that a shame? In closing, we would like to appeal to all school officials in our province to look into this case with open mind. If we can wake up that sleeping tiger in our hearts, if we can instill passion in our souls and develop what seems to have become a long-lost pride, we still probably can make a difference. Language, as everybody knows, is the most important aspect of our culture. It gives us an identity and as such, gives us a sense of pride and a sense of who we are. Without it, we would not be Kapampangan. Hence, this brewing concession among red-blooded speakers of the language to save it from the jaws of extinction. DILA is proudly counting on you, as it does with the rest of the people speaking indigenous languages (Bisaya, Ilocano, etc.) to come forward and air our grievance. Kapampangan especially, is the most vulnerable owing to its nearness to its would-be nemesis. When language doomsday in the Philippines arrives, the first domino to fall down would very likely be our own language and so, we should start preparing for that. Thanks for your time, sir/ma'am. Very truly yours, Your names |
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